Add the dough ingredients to a bowl and mix until a sticky dough forms. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

While the dough rests, start the sauce. In a sauce pot, drizzle in the olive oil and bring to medium heat. Add the garlic, oregano, and Calabrian chilies to bloom for a minute or so before deglazing with the vodka. Add the tomatoes and bring the mixture to a simmer.

Cover and stir occasionally while you attend to the dough.

Back at the dough, knead it for about 5 minutes until it passes the windowpane test: tear off a piece and stretch it until very thin and translucent without tearing. Set a bowl over the top of the dough (or cover with plastic wrap) and let rise for 30 minutes.

Use this resting time to finish the sauce.

Once the sauce has been simmering for at least 15 minutes or the tomatoes have broken down and softened, turn off the heat and blend it completely smooth: use an immersion blender, food processor, or standard blender. Return the blended sauce to the pan.

With the heat still off, stir in the heavy cream. Adjust the seasoning with salt to taste.

Get out a square metal pizza pan (although a baking sheet will work). Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan, enough to spread and coat the entire surface.

• Toss the dough in and stretch to the edges. If it springs back before reaching the edges of the pan, it will need to rest for a final 10-20 minutes so you can fully stretch it to the corners.

Preheat the oven to 450°F/232°C.

Finally, prep the toppings. Grate the cheeses and cut the pepperoni into 36 ~1/8” (3-5mm) slices.

• If you want to get the cupping pepperoni effect, you can’t use presliced pepperoni and you can’t make the slices too thin (or overly thick).
• ~1/8” slices seem to be the sweet spot for pepperoni that will curl up during high-heat baking.

To assemble, stretch the relaxed dough to the edges of the pan, add a layer of sauce to the very edges of the pan, an even layer of the grated cheeses, and finally, add exactly 36 pepperonis in a grid pattern so each slice can end up with 4 pepperonis on it.

Slide the pan into the middle rack of the preheated 450°F/232°C oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown & crispy, and the cheese is bubbly.

Slide the cooked pizza onto a cooling rack to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and enjoying.